A hunter's wiles. 101 



from you; the intervening- space is as level as a bowling 

 alley ; so pray how do you mean to get at them ? ' 



A good hunter would repl}^, ' In spite of all you say, 

 my friend, I mean to have the best deer from one of the 

 nearest herds. In the first place the wind blows from 

 them towards us, as it should do ; secondly, although to 

 your unpractised eye the surface of the prairie appears 

 perfectly level, it is not so in reality ; there are many 

 slight hollows and inequalities, quite deep enough to 

 shelter me from observation when I am lying flat upon 

 the surface ; and in the third place, I fancy it will not 

 be necessary to travel all that distance, inasmuch as I 

 hope to persuade some of the deer to come half-way to 

 meet me. So, my friend, if you will take charge of our 

 steeds, keeping them and yourself as quiet and motion- 

 less as possible, I will show you a dodge which may 

 perhaps prove very useful to you at other times.' 



The hunter would begin by creeping out very silently 

 into the open prairie in a stooping position, as low 

 down as he possibly can bend. All the while he must 

 keep a most careful watch upon the deer before him, 

 and as soon as he sees one of the animals twitch its 

 white tail in a nervous manner, must fall flat upon the 

 ground, for that waving of the flag is only the pre- 

 liminary movement to a careful survey all round. As 

 soon as the deer is quietly feeding once more, the 

 hunter will continue his onward movement, crawling 

 forward this time, and so gradually working his way 



